Against the background of the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, the struggle for power in the Middle East and recent military unrest, a well-known prophecy and prayer of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) from nearly one and a half thousand years ago has come up for fresh discussion in the Muslim world. Political and religious circles are offering many kinds of analysis of this highly significant hadith and of today’s geopolitical equation.
About 1,400 years ago, standing on Arabian soil, the Prophet (peace be upon him) prayed for special blessings for Yemen and Sham. At the same time he gave a grave warning of strife and disorder about another region, ‘Najd’.
In a narration in Sahih Bukhari from Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) prayed: ‘O Allah! Bless us in our Sham (Syria and the surrounding region) and in our Yemen.’ When the companions present asked him to pray for blessings for the Najd region too, the Prophet (peace be upon him) passed over it and again prayed for blessings for Sham and Yemen. Then he said of Najd: ‘There will be earthquakes and strife there, and from there the horn of Satan will rise.’
Islamic scholars differ over exactly which geographical area the ‘Najd’ of the hadith refers to. Researchers on one side hold that the central region of present-day Saudi Arabia, where the capital Riyadh stands, is the ancient Najd. Those on the other side hold that the highlands on the border of ancient Iraq were meant.
In modern times, however, discussion of how the prophecy is playing out has grown sharper because of the long and bloody Saudi-Yemen conflict. After Yemen’s capital Sanaa fell under Houthi control in 2014, civil war spread across the country. From 2015 a Saudi-led military coalition began operations in Yemen. Yemen has been devastated by the long fight; the Houthis, for their part, have kept up drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia’s airports, oil refineries and important installations.
The struggle for regional dominance between Saudi Arabia and Iran has turned the conflict into an international crisis that reaches as far as trade and security in the Red Sea. On one side is Yemen, the region of the Prophet’s prayer for blessings, fighting to survive; on the other, regional power and the spread of strife. Taken together, this has made that prophecy of one and a half thousand years ago newly relevant to devout people around the world.
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